at sea

I am thinking of making a piece with international signal flags. The flags are the form, but that form doesn't have any specific content yet. I think I want it to be a message of longing - one which not too many people understand... or only sailors understand. Or for the love of the sea (via Rebecca Mir?). The language is similar to the one I used in the poem Civilian Camo. So here is a message to Bas Jan Ader (who was lost at sea).

"COME HOME"

Gary Snyder
Things to do Around a Ship at Sea

Go out with a small flashlight and a star chart, on a good night, and check out the full size of Eridanus.
Sunbathe on a cot on the boatdeck
Go forward and talk to the lookout, away from the engines, the silence and shudder
Watch running lights pass in the night
Dolphins and sharks.
Phosphorescing creatures alongside the shipside, burning spots in the wake.
Stag, Argosy, Playboy, and Time.
Do pushups.
Make coffee in the gallery, telling jokes.
Type letters to his girl friend in Naples for the twelve-to-four Oiler
Sew up jeans.
Practise tying knots and whipping
With the Chief Cook singing the blues
Tell big story lies
Grow a beard
Learn to weld and run a lathe
Study for the Firemans Oilers and Watertenders exam
Tropic- and sea-bird watching
Types of ships
Listening to hours of words and lifetimes–fuck & shit–
Figuring out the revolution.
Hammer pipes and flanges
Paint a picture on a bulkhead with leftover paints
Jack off in the shower
Dreams of girls, about yr girl friend, writing letters, wanting children,
Making plans.